title: Allergens of weed pollen: an overview on recombinant and natural molecules.
abstract: Weeds represent a botanically unrelated group of plants that usually lack commercial or aesthetical value. Pollen of allergenic weeds are able to trigger type I reactions in allergic patients and can be found in the plant families of Asteraceae, Amaranthaceae, Plantaginaceae, Urticaceae, and Euphorbiaceae. To date, 34 weed pollen allergens are listed in the IUIS allergen nomenclature database, which were physicochemically and immunologically characterized to varying degrees. Relevant allergens of weeds belong to the pectate lyase family, defensin-like family, Ole e 1-like family, non-specific lipid transfer protein 1 family and the pan-allergens profilin and polcalcins. This review provides an overview on weed pollen allergens primarily focusing on the molecular level. In particular, the characteristics and properties of purified recombinant allergens and hypoallergenic derivatives are described and their potential use in diagnosis and therapy of weed pollen allergy is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Christian Doppler Laboratory for Allergy Diagnosis and Therapy, Department of Molecular Biology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria. Electronic address: Gabriele.Gadermaier@sbg.ac.at.
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gadermaier
authors.affiliation: Christian Doppler Laboratory for Allergy Diagnosis and Therapy, Department of Molecular Biology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hauser
authors.affiliation: Christian Doppler Laboratory for Allergy Diagnosis and Therapy, Department of Molecular Biology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
authors.forename: Fatima
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferreira
mesh_terms: D027721:Amaranthus / Q000276:immunology; D000818:Animals; D019306:Artemisia / Q000276:immunology; D019659:Asteraceae / Q000276:immunology; D006368:Helianthus / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D057685:Plant Weeds / Q000276:immunology*; D011058:Pollen / Q000276:immunology*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D006255:Rhinitis, Allergic, Seasonal / Q000276:immunology*; D031248:Salsola / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D010940:Plant Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins
keywords: Allergy diagnosis and therapy; Hypoallergen; IgE binding; Mugwort; Parietaria; Ragweed; Recombinant allergen